The Doctor's Peculiar Encounter
by MadMushroomWithaBook
Summary: The Tenth Doctor and his new companion, Tess, crash land in 1940's Wales. Here, they discover a group of children known as peculiars, and the powers they posses. However, with the wights beginning to terrorize them, The Doctor and Tess must help their new friends escape with their lives. Also, along the way, Tess may just discover she has a secret she didn't know she possessed.
1. Chapter 1

The rain beat down mercilessly upon the ground, thunder clapping about the ink-blotted night sky without hesitation. The small town of Cairnholm, Wales was retiring for the night, every soul, both young and old safety tucked into their warm beds for the evening.

"CRASH!" A blue telephone box suddenly came whirling through the silent, cool air. Surprisingly, despite the loud crash and the hum of the box, none of the Cairnholm residents seemed to be disturbed. The blue telephone box laid on the ground, caught in an entanglement of branches and vines. The door to the box opened, revealing its two inhabitants—The Doctor, of course, looking eccentric as usual with his brown pinstriped suit, overcoat, and cream colored converse, and his new American companion, Tess Romanov. The girl looked no more than seventeen years old, and had long, dark hair cascading down her torso.

"Ah, here we are. Cairnholm, Wales, 1940!" Exclaimed The Doctor spiritedly.

"1940? Wales? Are you trying to kill us? You're insane! What if we get bombed?" Tess, despite the Doctor's amusement, did not seem pleased to have reached their destination. However, The Doctor seemed to not have heard the comments of his companion, instead taking out his sonic screwdriver out of his left breast pocket, swirling it around in the air in a manic fashion. However, this man was no ordinary doctor. He was actually an alien from the planet Gallifrey, who just so happened to own a time machine that could take you anywhere in time and space that you desire. This was called the T.A.R.D.I.S, his little blue telephone box that just so happened to be bigger on the inside.

The whole time-traveling mechanism was still quite new to his seventeen-year-old companion. In fact, it was just last night when The Doctor found Tess in an alleyway in London. Peculiar as it was, neither Tess nor The Doctor could figure out why she had mysteriously appeared there. While millions of reasons had gone through her brain as to how she could have ended up in England, since she lived in Connecticut, The Doctor abruptly grabbed her by the arm, without so much as an introduction, simply exclaiming "Allons-Y!," before taking her into his T.A.R.D.I.S.

"You're crazy!" Tess had shouted at him, although he hadn't seemed to notice—or care. "Well…I wouldn't exactly call myself crazy…just mad." And with that, the T.A.R.D.I.S soared into the air, rocking its companions back and forth with shaking vibrations.

"Doctor, why are we even here? I mean, why 1940's Wales?" Tess, despite being utterly disturbed that a madman had just whisked her away to another time and place, was quite curious about not why she was taken, but why, of all places, she was taken here. Although she asked the question rhetorically, as he hadn't seemed to be inclined to answer any of the questions she asked, he surprised her with a response.

"Because, Miss Romanov, there's something timey wimey going on here. I just haven't figured out what it is yet."

"Ok. So what about me, then? Why in the world was I in that alley last night? I didn't remember who I was or where I came from." The Doctor, seeming preoccupied with observing their surroundings, did not answer her. Nevertheless, this didn't stop Tess from firing out questions, as she tended to be quite impatient. "Are you just going to stand there waving that stupid thing around in the air all day, or are you going to at least tell me why the heck I'm here?"

The Doctor's eyes widened. "How dare you! My sonic screwdriver might just one day save your life! It won't be so stupid then, will it?" Tess rolled her eyes, clearly not amused. Finally, she realized that there was no way she was going back home tonight, so she wondered where they would stay for the night while in Wales.

"So, is there any place around here where we could, you know, crash for the night?" In response, The Doctor's left eyebrow shifted upwards, giving Tess a confused look.

"Crash? We just did that! Weren't you paying attention? Good God, and now you want to do it again? I'll never understand you Americans and all your adrenaline rushes-"

"No," Tess interrupted abruptly, already slightly annoyed, "I meant it in the figurative sense. You know, like 'crash' as in 'hang out', possible go to sleep?" With a slight twinge of exasperation, The Doctor uttered a single syllable in reply.

"Oh." Then, without a second to spare, he began to run along the dark, grassy path, now covered in sparkly, wet dew. Tess gave a sigh before chasing after him reluctantly, her ankles becoming more and more drenched with every step she took.

"Doctor!" She called out into the night after him, though he didn't turn around to acknowledge her. "What's the matter?" She kept a steady pace, her lean physic helping her to somewhat keep up with the 900-year-old alien. Suddenly, though, her body gave out, and she lost her balance, falling down into a sea of wet green paraphernalia. "Wait up a second!" She called out. She could see The Doctor's figure dwindling out into the night, like the flame of a candle suddenly being extinguished.

The Doctor ran for miles across the dewy plains, passing quiet little white cottages all lined up in rows. How nice it seemed to The Doctor, that the people of Cairnholm could all be comfortable and safe tucked into their beds. But that was not the life he led. After a while, Tess, getting herself up off the ground after falling, had caught up with The Doctor. Although she thought this whole adventure completely ridiculous, she had to admit that the fact that The Doctor could take her to random times and places that she had never seen before slightly exciting.

Next, after the pair had made their way passed the houses filled with quiet, sleeping families, they came upon a thicket of branches.

"We're not really going through that, are we?" Asked Tess, although she feared she knew the answer. The Doctor smiled at her encouragingly.

"Oh, you bet we are, Miss Romanov. Allons-y!" With a groan his cohort followed him into the thicket of green and brown leaves and twigs congested with a muddy substance. The interior of the bog was hot and sticky, making Tess feel as if her body would collapse yet again at any moment from dizziness. Also, the fact that the girl also currently sported long black skinny jeans and a long-sleeved top did not help her current situation. Tess, with the air around her being fraught with humidity, felt her clothes begin to stick to her body as if by the force of super glue.

"Are we almost there?" Tess complained. "Where ever 'There' is, exactly."

"Yes, we're nearly there. I hope."

"Hope? What do you mean 'you hope?' Aren't you supposed to know where you're going?" The Doctor, feeling quite skeptical at the moment, shook his head.

"I'm beginning to get a strange feeling from this place. There must be some sort of time vortex present in these parts-which I'm sure of. My sonic screw driver would never lie to me. No. But there is something here. I can feel it." While his tone of voice was normally animated and benign, as Tess had come to find in the short time she had known him, she now realized that his voice had changed to a more serious and grim demeanor.

"A strange feeling?" Tess inquired. "You? Of all people to have doubts about a place? Look, I know I haven't known you that long, but I can see you're the type of person who wouldn't just show up in some random place without a reason." The Doctor looked at Tess, confusion spread across his face.

"And your point is?"

"My point, Doctor, is why are we here at all? I mean, you still haven't even told me."

"That, my friends, is an excellent question." At the sound of a third participant's voice, both The Doctor and Tess whirled around to find the silhouette of a young girl, probably no more than sixteen years of age, standing before them. She sounded native to the land, speaking with a thick Welsh accent. It took Tess a moment to recognize the small silver object gripped firmly by the girl's hand, before realizing that it was a gun. A gun which was pointed straight at her and The Doctor.

"Really? A gun? I swear, it seems that everywhere I go, throughout all of time and space, someone is always threatening me with a gun! Oh, how I detest them!" The Doctor then attempted to persuade the young girl to drop her weapon, which, however, proved to no avail.

"And do you know what I detest?" Asked the girl rhetorically. "I really can't stand it when people try to trespass on my home's property. Especially wights like yourselves." Both The Doctor and Tess exchanged confused looks at being referred to as a 'wight, 'or whatever she had just called them. "So," continued the young girl, "I'll only ask you both once. What are you both doing here?"

"You must have us confused with someone else." The Doctor supposed. "We are not the wights you are looking for. Actually, we're not wights at all." He wanted to make that perfectly clear.

"Yeah, we're not wights, we're humans, just like you." Tess offered, but was interrupted by The Doctor's disapproval.

"Well, she's human. I'm a time lord." He said, pointing to his companion. "I'm The Doctor, and this is my friend, Tess Romanov. We come in peace." Unfortunately, The Doctor's attempt to convince the girl that they did not impose a threat to her didn't quite work, as she kept a strong grip on her pistol.

The girl's attire seemed appropriate for the time they were stuck in. She wore a long grey dress with a white laced collar and sleeves that reached to her wrists. It was so strange to see one so young look as afraid as the girl did. What frightened a young girl like her so badly that she would resort to such a violent gesture as aiming a gun at mere strangers? Tess had seen people like that—good people who had been through the worst situations imaginable. She knew, too, that it was the good hearted people who, when they were truly afraid, would do just about anything to save what they cared about most. Anything.

"Doctor, get back, just don't say or do anything. This girl isn't playing around here." Tess whispered as quietly as possible into The Doctor's ear. For possibly the first time in his life, which was quite a long time, The Doctor did as he was told. The girl stood in front of her captured pair, her hand which protruded the gun beginning to shake.

"J-just tell us what you want from us." Tess offered, wincing.

"Don't play games with me. I know what the lot of you are. You're wights, monsters who have been out to destroy peculiars for centuries. I really ought to just shoot the lot of you right now and get it over with." Stalling for their lives, Tess asked several questions, hoping to keep the girl at bay for at least a few more moments.

"Wait, what are peculiars, exactly? And why would these wights, or whatever you called them want to hurt a child like you anyways?" The girl's eyes narrowed slightly. Were they trying to catch her off guard? Anyhow, despite her suspicions, she lowered the gun slightly, but not so much that neither Tess nor The Doctor could attempt to escape.

"The wights are monsters. There's not really much more I could say about them. They hunt my people down. And they kill them." Tess saw the girl's face shift from anger and rage to sorrow, a tear sliding down her cheek slowly. Unexpectedly, as if out of nowhere, The Doctor gave a sudden shout of realization.

"Of Course!" He exclaimed. "Peculiars! Wights! It all makes sense now!" The Doctor jumped up and down with excitement, a notion Tess clearly could not comprehend.

"What are you talking about, Doctor?" she asked, her left eye brow raised higher than the other with confusion.

"You simply don't understand," he replied. "I've heard about these species of people, they are quite unique. Extraordinary, actually. They possess certain abilities that no other human can even dream of! Oh! And I almost forgot the most important part! They have the ability to maneuver time in such a way as to make it repeat itself over and over for as long as they please. It's quite brilliant, actually." Staring into space, realization suddenly dawned on him. "Oh! Of course, that's why the T.A.R.D.I.S brought us here! Ha! Splendid!" As The Doctor danced around in his delight in discovery, the young girl gave him a strange look.

"H-how do you know that? How could you possibly know about peculiars and their powers and not be a wight?" With a sly smirk, The Doctor retorted, "I'm a time traveler, dear. I know a thing or two about playing around with time." To prove himself, The Doctor then took out his sonic screwdriver, its blue light buzzing and beaming from the tip.

"Oh, God. Put that thing away already." Tess was clearly annoyed with his sonic technology.

"I'm telling you, Miss Romanov, one day, you will bow down to my sonic screwdriver." Finally, it seemed that the girl was convinced that the pair of intruders were not wights, just two time travelers who just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. She gave a sigh, knowing that for her misjudgment, she may end up having to repay them one day; the thought made her feel weak, for the girl hated being at the mercy of other people. The girl then dropped the gun completely, the silver instrument of war plummeting to the ground with a thud.

"My name's Emma," she said next. "Emma Bloom." Emma winced, thinking almost immediately that giving her identity away to strangers was indeed a bad idea, as she had feared. However, the two took her in with kind eyes, smiling at her.

"Hello, Emma. Nice to meet you," The Doctor replied gently. "I'm The Doctor, by the way, as I mentioned before, although you we're probably so set on killing us that you may have forgotten. And this is my friend, Tess Romanov." He pointed to the tall slender brunette standing beside him. Emma and Tess both nodded greetings of hello to each other.

"Well, if you're not wights, then what are you doing here? Nobody but us peculiars can enter the loop, it's supposed to be hidden from view."

"Ah, well you know, we're just on holiday. Loops are quite fun to visit every now and then," The Doctor retorted comically. Emma gave him a strange look.

"On holiday in 1940s Cainholm? Are you a mad man?"

"Indeed I am," He replied. "With a box." Emma then rolled her eyes at him as Tess chimed into the conversation.

"I know it's kind of strange and all, two strangers just showing up, completely unannounced in a place that no other human should know exists, but you can trust us, honest-"

"Three." Tess's sentence was cut short by Emma's interjection. Befuddled with misunderstanding, Tess then inquired, "what do you mean 'three'?"

"You said that two of you showed up randomly today. However, earlier today, there was a young boy, about the age of sixteen who was lurking about our old house. When he left, I followed him, catching up with him near the bog just before the loop entrance."

"Let me guess," The Doctor inquired, "you thought he was a 'wight' as well?" Emma's eyes shifted away from The Doctor's, guilt clearly spread across her pale face.

"I handcuffed him. And held a knife up to his throat."

"Oh, well, that's always a useful tactic in interrogation." Tess snickered slightly at The Doctor's comment, to which Emma gave her a glance of what appeared to be slight hatred. In defense, she combated, "Anyways, it's alright. The boy is safe and sound, being cared for by Miss Peregrine at the moment. He seems to be completely ordinary."

"That's good to know," said The Doctor. "So, are you going to take us to your leader? Ha-ha, I've always wanted to say that." He smiled again at both Emma and Tess before striding off into the distance, without so much as a single syllable, a part from "Allons-y!" Surprised, Emma and Tess both began to take long strides to attempt to keep up with The Doctor.


	2. Chapter 2

The trio trotted on through the forest, the doctor leading the way, as if he had any idea where he was going in the first place. Emma was the only one in the party who had had any clue as to where the mysterious house full of peculiar children lied, however. Yet it was a useless endeavor to keep pace with the doctor's lengthy strides, so Tess and Emma hung back, presuming a normally paced path to the house.

"So, who exactly is Miss Peregrine?" Tess wondered curiously.

"She's our Ymbryne," Emma answered, unaware that the term sounded unfamiliar to an outsider like Tess. Tess, befuddled by Emma's response, asked inquiringly what in the world an 'Ymbryne' was. Emma smiled, clearly forgetting her mistake. "An Ymbryne is a peculiar, like the rest of our kind, except they are so much more. They are intellectual peculiars, ones who can shape shift into birds, and even control the fabrics of time and space."

"Wow. That's pretty cool," Tess gasped. She still could not fathom the things she was hearing. First it was the doctor, taking her to a place she dared only dream about, and now Emma Bloom, this small, fragile-looking girl, who, ironically wasn't so fragile, talking to her about birds controlling time. Next there was a bout of silence between the two girls, neither of them knowing what to say next. Therefore, they continued their awkward descent into the wild forest filled with a multitude of vines and leaves catching and nipping at their apparel. However, it didn't take long, surprisingly, for it seemed he was in his own little world, for the doctor to suddenly take notice of the absence of his two companions.

"Tess? Emma? Where have you gone?" Upon hearing their names called, slightly thankful for the break of silence, the two girls called out to him in reply.

"We're here, Doctor," came Emma's voice as they ran to catch up with him.

"Ah, good," the doctor smiled. "We should be nearly there. My sonic screwdriver is picking up all sorts of timey-wimey signals around this area." He frowned next. "However, it is hard to tell. I don't see any sort of house in sight for miles." He cupped his right hand over his eyes narrowly to block out the pale light streaming through the grey clouds, trying to spot the house from where he stood.

"We're nearly there, just keep walking," Emma sighed. "You'll have to look closely, though. It is neatly hidden among the trees, so that wights can't spot us so easily." As they walked a few paces farther, the doctor's sonic screwdriver began to buzz, emitting a flashing blue light. Apparently, this insinuated that they were very close to a time loop.

As soon as the Doctor saw his screwdriver flashing animatedly, he jumped up into the air immediately, scrambling towards the direction that caused it to buzz the loudest.

"Hey, Doctor! Wait for us!" Screamed Tess and Emma from behind, running to catch up with the mad man yet again.

"Does he always do this sort of thing? Emma asked, partially out of breath. Tess, running alongside her, merely shrugged her shoulders. She had only just met the doctor, although she had a pretty good idea that much of his time was spent performing such acts as these.

"I'm not sure, I barley know him," she replied. They heard the doctor's voice up ahead, ringing giddily with excitement.

"A-ha! There it is!" Emma and Tess had finally caught up with him, Tess staring in awe at the magnificent mansion that stood before the three of them. It was an old, dilapidated house, green mold caked into the cracks. There were many windows that could be seen from the exterior. However, many were shattered and encrusted with grim and rust. The entire house looked as if it were no less than seventy years old, and looked as if its three stories would collapse onto each other with one slight rap on the front door.

Tess then gave Emma a questioning stare. "You children live here?" Emma, realizing her company's uneasiness at the thought of young children living in such a dump, attempted to put their minds at ease.

"What you're seeing is a mirage. It isn't real."

"Yeah, she's right. It looked the same to me when I first saw it." A boy who appeared to be about sixteen years old strode towards them, appearing as if out of thin air. The doctor, nor Tess or Emma had heard him lurking about until now. When Emma laid her brown eyes on the boy's dark head of hair, they widened into two large brown dots. She forcefully smacked him in the head, the boy falling back, wincing in pain.

"Jacob!" She screamed fiercely.

"Oh, what did I do this time, Emma?" It had seemed that ever since Jacob had arrived at the Peculiar Children's house, all Emma could do was find fault with every move he made. Shaking her head, Emma uttered, "You're not supposed to wander about the grounds unsupervised!" She whirled around sternly, as if looking for someone. "Where's Miss Peregrine? Or any of the others? Someone should be out here with you."

"Ah, still think I'm a Wight, Em?" Jacob teased, although he knew that remark would land him a stab in the chest from her, which he probably would regret.

"Oh, so we're not the only ones," the doctor chimed in, sarcastically. However, Tess secretly was slightly assuaged by this information, having felt slightly like an intruder back in the woods. She didn't like the feeling of being in places that she was not wanted, especially when its inhabitants thought you to be some sort of blood thirsty creature. Although Emma wanted to be annoyed with the doctor after his remark, she couldn't stop a grin from forming along the edges of her mouth any better than a novice at poker could.

Emma putting her anger at Jacob aside, the group of four walked up to the entrance of the magnificent house. However, upon the stride up to the front door, Tess became befuddled as she spotted a clear dome forming amongst the clouds, seeming to cover the entirety of the peculiar house before them. She watched in amazement as the dome appeared to wash away the ancient rust and cracks throughout, replacing its windows with new, bright shining glass that seemed to glint off the lazy sun's beams; the old bricks which had barely held the fortress together now swapped for sturdier ones. Additionally, the color of the mansion overall had brightened from a fading pale beige to a dazzling pearl.

"How. How is this possible?" Tess whispered to herself aloud, completely taken by surprise. Emma answered her, nonetheless.

"It's how the loop helps conceal us. While outside the loop, you can only see what the house would look like in modern times, since it is nearly seventy years old. However, once inside, you can see how Miss Peregrine has preserved our home to look exactly as it did those many years ago."

"Wait, so how old are you exactly?" Tess wondered, suddenly realizing that Emma, if stuck in this loop for years, probably would not have physically aged. However, her question went unanswered, as the doctor marveled at the newly refurbished house in an excited tone.

"Wow, this is amazing!" He exclaimed. And it was a most peculiar exclamation, for the Doctor was not one to become so surprised so easily. He had been alive for a little over 900 years, and little flabbergasted him these days in such a way that the loop's magical qualities did so effortlessly.

Jacob, Emma, Tess and the doctor all ventured into the enormous mansion. The inside was even more beautiful than the exterior. The interior was decorated in a 1940s vintage styled theme. The walls were a light green with light yellow patterns etched throughout in a checkered pattern. A long staircase stood before the lot of them, winding up to the highest floors in the house.

Just then, as the doctor and Tess stood in awe marveling at the magnificence of the inside of the Peculiar Children's home, an elderly woman appeared as if by magic before them.

"Oh, Miss Peregrine! We didn't see you there," Emma squeaked, seeming surprised to see her caretaker materialize before them so mysteriously. Miss Peregrine was cloaked in long black robes, and her face seemed old and tired. Nevertheless, she greeted both her current refugees and new guests with a warm welcome.

"Hello, Jacob, Emma," She greeted them, and then surprised Tess and the doctor by addressing them by name as well. Sensing their confusion, the old Ymbryne smiled, uttering "I assume you're wondering how it is that I could possibly know who you are? Well, let's just say that I have heard a great deal about you, Doctor." She then turned to Tess. "And as for you, Miss Romanov, I think you'll find that you possess a greater popularity among much of the world than you may have realized."

Although the remark that Miss Peregrine uttered sent Tess's mind into a whirlwind of confusion, she was unable to ask what she meant, as the woman continued her speech to the group of people standing before her. The old woman then turned to Emma.

"Emma, why don't you take Tess to meet the others?" Miss Peregrine smiled, although it seemed forced, as if she was hiding something. However, if she was, she did not bother to share it with anyone. Emma, nevertheless, hadn't seemed to notice anything unusual, and took Tess obediently by the arm, showing her about the house. Jacob, feeling awkward standing with both the doctor and Miss Peregrine, followed the two girls.

As the pair of young girls and Jacob dissented farther into the house out of ear shot, Miss Peregrine's face changed abruptly from happy to stern with a sense of warning in her eyes.

"Doctor, you must take that girl away from this place." The doctor peered at the elderly woman in a strange fashion, clearly befuddled.

"Whatever do you mean, Miss Peregrine? " She lowered her voice to a threatening whisper then.

"That girl being here alters the space time continuum. Not to mention her presence here creates a black hole in my loop, which would ultimately allow the wights to come through undetected. I am sorry, doctor, but I cannot risk the safety of all my children here for the refuge of a young girl that was supposed to have died nearly a century ago." Although Miss Peregrine had stated her preferences clearly, the doctor still had had no idea why Tess could be a threat. Furthermore, he was beginning to think Miss Peregrine was quite mad, thinking that Tess was supposed to be dead a century ago.

"What on Earth are you talking about? Are you mad? Tess is a perfectly normal girl, and I'll not have your false accusations permeating about the air." He was becoming quite angry; whether it was because a stranger was insulting his companion or because he didn't understand what she was going on about, he was not sure. Miss Peregrine, however, kept calm.

"Surely you know who that young woman is? Surely you know what became of her in earlier years, and why her being here disrupts my loop?" However, despite Miss Peregrine's attempts to refresh the doctor's memory, he remained dumbfounded.

The doctor looked over at Tess, thoroughly examining her closely. She seemed quite normal for a modern American teenager. Her apparel seemed ordinary—in fact everything seemed so about the girl. So what was it, he wondered, that he was not seeing about her that proved that she was from another dimension or time?

He continued to ponder to himself what it could be. Tess Romanov, the girl who he had founded lying on the cold stoned pavement of a London alleyway. He remembered that she couldn't remember much about her past, and at first it had never occurred to him why that had been. Maybe because she hadn't had a past? Well, of course she did, everyone did. But perhaps her past wasn't very long, possibly cut shot by a bullet pricing her young heart so many years ago.

"How. How the hell is this possible?" The doctor whispered, anger and confusion ringing through his voice. It was her last name, Romanov, which determined that his conclusions were not elusive in the slightest. Miss Peregrine, seeing the doctor distraught with rage, attempted to console him.

"I am so very sorry, doctor. You know who she is?" He nodded slowly, his eyes fused in terror; bile gathering in his throat. At that very moment, both his hearts increased their speed, and the palms of his hands were glazed with cold, icy sweat.

"She's a Romanov, isn't she?" He asked, hoping desperately that he was wrong. Miss Peregrine nodded slowly, confirming the answer to his question.

"Tatiana Romanov, second oldest daughter of the Czar Nicholas II. And, as I'm sure you are no novice when it comes to a history book, I'll take it you remember quite well what became of the Romanov Dynasty in 1918?" The Doctor attempted to swallow the bile rising in his throat before mustering a response.

"They were executed," he said in a small voice.

"I know it is hard for you, Doctor. You come across so many people in your long life, and sometimes, you just want someone to be able to stay with you. But you can't save everyone." At this, the doctor cocked an eyebrow in surprise.

"And just how do you know so much about me?"

"Forgive me," The old Ymbryne apologized, "but you are quite a legend, especially among many of the Ymbrynes on the Peculiar consul." The doctor smiled at this, clearly happy to know that he was well thought of, despite the current disposition at hand.

"Well, it is nice to know that I have admirers." However, his demeanor turned serious yet again, contemplating what they were to do about the current situation at hand.

"So," he wondered aloud, "why would the T.A.R.D.I.S have taken me here? Surely it wouldn't want to cause any harm to innocent Peculiars, much less create a rift in the space time continuum?" Although Miss Peregrine knew very little about the doctor's blue box that allowed him to travel through time and space, she offered up her views on the matter.

"Perhaps your T.A.R.D.I.S, as you call it, became confused with Tess, being from a different time period, being inside. Her presence could have cause a malfunctioning, bringing you here by accident." The doctor shook his head vigorously at this notion.

"No, that's impossible. I've had many companions travel with me before who were from many different time periods before." He then stopped in his tracks, suddenly bewildered. "However, my companions never were expected to have died in a fixed point in time." He exhaled, knowing what would have to happen next. Why, he wondered, did this always happen to him? Why did they always have to leave? However, he knew what he had to do to make everything, including the normal progression of time itself, right again.

"Goodbye, Tess Romanov. The girl who is supposed to be dead."


	3. Chapter 3

"Wow! That is too amazing! I really can't even see you!" Tess had, upon Miss Peregrine's request, acquainted herself with the rest of the peculiar household. However, the one who she was most amazed with was Millard, the invisible boy. Although She found Hugh impressive, with his ability to shelter bees inside his body, she found Millar most impressive by far. However, she had to admit that all of the peculiar's talents were unique in their own ways. Secretly, she envied them, and wished that there was some special talent that she possessed.

However, that was impossible. She was just Tess, nothing more. Or so the young girl thought. As the circus of peculiar children continued to flash about their talents to Tess, she noticed the doctor wander over to them cautiously. Tess, sensing something was wrong, eased over to him, trying as hard as she could to not make her movements seem obvious to the rest of the party. She didn't want to alarm them for no reason.

"Doctor, what is it?" Tess asked him, looking at his face, unusually gleamed with sweat. It was very unnatural to see the doctor in a state of panic, which Tess, in her short time knowing the doctor, had become aware. The doctor let out a shaky breath before gently rapping his arms around Tess, slightly sobbing to himself.

"I can't do it again. Not again," He cried into her shoulder. Tess, befuddled as she was, attempted to shrug the man off of her, giving him a strange look. With one eye brow cocked, she asked what he was talking about. Then, just as she did, she wished she hadn't. His face grew hard and dark as stone, and he looked angrier than she had ever seen him.

Tess, I'm sorry. I'm so so sorry. We have to leave." And with that, he turned on his heal, leaving Tess with a thousand questions muddling through her brain, desperate to all get out at once.

"What on Earth do you mean we have to leave? Why? Why now? You take me to this wonderful place filled with magical children and now you're saying let's go?"

"Um, I resent being called a child," Millard, the invisible boy chimed in. Tess muttered her apologies to him and raced after the doctor.

"You know, everyone thinks you're so wonderful, but you're really not. All you do is kidnap people and give them false hope. What if I don't wanna leave, huh?" With a sudden fury that neither Tess nor the doctor had expected, he burst into a rage, terrifying Tess, Miss Peregrine, and all the peculiar children.

"YOU HAVE TO!" Tears fell down the doctor's cheeks; droplets of pure sorrow splashing the floor as he spoke. "Tess, I'm sorry, but there's—there's something not quite right with you." She couldn't believe what she was hearing.

"What's that supposed to mean? What, I'm like weird or something? I know, I get that all the—"

"No." His now raspy voice silenced her reply. "You're just—"

"You're just not supposed to be alive is what he means, darling." Miss Peregrine, seeing how painful it was for the doctor to tell Tess this, took it upon herself to say what needed to be said. Although she hadn't known the doctor very long, she knew of his disposition, and how saddening it was to see him about to lose yet another companion. Would the suffering ever end for him?

This, however, was big news for Tess. She couldn't believe what she was hearing. How was she 'not supposed to be alive,' she wondered. Her eyes grew wide at what she was told next.

"Are you familiar with the Romanov Dynasty of Russia?" Miss Peregrine asked her; the doctor was too distraught at the moment to speak. Tess nodded her head, however she fail to see what a dead Russian family had to do with the fact that she was supposed to be dead.

"What does that have to do with me?" She asked.

"Well, dear, think about your name." Tess thought for a moment, realizing that Miss Peregrine had meant her last name.

"Romanov." Tess whispered aloud. Her skin then felt icy and sweaty at the same time, and she felt her heart stop for a split second. Sucking in a deep breath, she dared to ask what this coincidence meant.

"It—it doesn't mean, I mean it can't mean…"

"I'm sorry, Tess." Everything that was holding her together, every ounce of courage she had left melted off of her like snow once the sun had shown through the clouds, and she wept. The once fearless Tess had become so easily broken. Miss Peregrine, being a woman of compassion despite what one may think, allowed Tess her brief moments of grief before continuing on with her dark cloud of bad news.

"Miss Romanov, I am sure you know what this will mean for you?" Tess shook her head, whether it was an act of disbelief or of a misunderstanding, Miss Peregrine could not tell. "You'll have to leave, Tess. I am sorry. I cannot risk the life of my children to protect you." Miss Peregrine's face was solemn with grief. Because of this, Tess knew that she was truly just trying to protect the peculiars. Choking back the rest of her tears, Tess asked bravely, "So what do I do?" The doctor then chimed in regretfully.

"I have to take you away from here, before it's too late. If the wights haven't been able to break through the walls of the loop yet, I may be able to bring you safely back to your home." At this, Miss Peregrine's eyes widened with shock, and her hand went up to the doctor's tie, pulling him vastly towards her, their eyes locking in mutual disgust.

"Doctor, do not make promises that you cannot keep! You can't attempt to save this young girl's life when you know the whole of the space time continuum is at stake!" The doctor, however, could not be dissuaded, and pulled out of the elderly woman's grasp.

"Don't tell me what I can and cannot do. You don't know what it's like, being alone all the time. If I can save one human life, whether it costs me dearly or not, then I think it's worth it. Wouldn't you try everything in your power to save your peculiar children?" This evidently struck a chord with Miss Peregrine, for she knew he was right. She would indeed do whatever possible to ensure the safety of Emma, Millard, Hugh, and all the others in the house.

"Do what you must then" Miss Peregrine said to him, before narrowing her eyes in a threatening fashion. "Just don't do anything too extreme, for all of time and space may pay for it." With that, she strode away from the eccentric man, muttering, "I hope you choose wisely, doctor."

"Come with me, Miss Romanov." He turned to Tess, taking her arm in his and attempting to pull her away from the rest of the children.

"Doctor, am I going to die?" Although she was trying so hard to stay sane, the doctor could see Tess's hands shaking, her breathing coming increasingly faster and faster. He bent down next to her, taking both of her hands in his.

"Sometimes, Tess, we have to make sacrifices for others, for the good of the human race. And I'm used to it, I do it almost every day. But I know you're not. So, I'm leaving it up to you. It is your life, and I'll not take it from you by force."

Tess hadn't remembered much about her life before she met the doctor. She could barely remember her name when he had first found her in an alley way in London. In the short time she'd known him, she had wondered what really meant to him, and what he truly cared about. And now she knew. He cared about humanity. He cared about how valuable each and every human life he came across was, and how he nearly put himself in danger every day to try and save someone. Tess knew that she was supposed to be executed by the Bolsheviks nearly a century before her time. She now realized that she had been studying about herself in her Russian History class in school, and that she was none other than one of the grand duchesses, Tatiana Romanov. But how did this happen, she wondered?

With a sharp breath, Tess wondered aloud, "How on Earth is this possible, doctor?"

"Well," he answered, I've not had much experience with cases like this before." Tess could see that the doctor was desperately trying to keep a serene state of mind in the midst of her presence, but it exhausted him terribly. The doctor sat slightly for a few moments, pondering how he could save both Tess and the entire universe.

"I simply don't understand this, Tess," he said after a long while. He began pacing the circumference of the room as he continued his speech, much as one does when they are in deep thought. "You, Tess Romanov are found in the depths of a London alleyway, with no recollection of family or any past memories of any sort. One would assume amnesia, but no, it's much more complex than that. Someone is behind this, someone thought this plan through very very cleverly, but as to who it was, I can't think." The doctor sat there in silence, while the concerned faces of Tess and Miss Peregrine stared him down. Not coincidently, the silence of the party drew in some of the peculiar children, such as Emma, Millard and Jacob.

"Oh my gosh. No. NO NO NO!" Suddenly, as if without warning, the doctor leapt from his stupor, screaming in a rage. Not knowing what else to do, Tess reached up her hand and slapped him across the face. "Ahhh! Why would you do that?!"

"Sorry, but you were act like a crazy nutcase." Gathering her wits, she then proceeded to ask what he had been squabbling about. "So, what's wrong?"

"Right, yes. Tess, as I was saying, this didn't just randomly happen to you, this was planned. Someone that has the ability to meddle with time found a way to go to your original time period, picked you up, and brought you to the twenty-first century."

"But doctor, why London specifically? I mean, I'm not even from there?"

"It must mean that, whoever is behind this wanted me to find you." He then narrowed his eyes in thought. "But it still doesn't make sense that the TARDIS took us here?"

"It's the wights!" Emma chimed in, as if in a state of horror.

"I was getting to that, Emma, but—"

"No, look!" The party whirled around to spot monsters with black tentacles protruding from various parts of their bodies breaking through the windows of the house which was once solidly protected by the loop. However, with Tess's presence, the loop's protection had vanished, allowing the monstrous wights to break through. They slithered closer and closer to them all, cackling and hissing as they made their way across the wooden floorboards of the house.

"Doctor, help us! What do we do?" One of the smaller children screamed, clearly frightened by the sight of the wights.

"Well, what do you think we do? We run. Allons-y!" And they were off. The doctor, followed by Tess, Emma, Millard, Jacob, Miss Peregrine and the rest of the children all made a mad dash for an exit from the house, trying to find anyway they could to escape the wights. But they were trapped, they soon realized. Wights piled into the room from every potential exit, crashing through the vortex of windows that surrounded them. They were the most terrifying creatures that Tess had ever seen. Clothed in black, they had both the appearance of a man and monster meshed together. While their bodies looked as if they were human, their face did not suggest the same, with various tentacles coming from their faces.

For a few moments, there was an awkward silence, with the wights merely staring at the lot of them. Then, with their voices sounding like a sharp knife cutting through the still air, they spoke.

"We are here to collect the peculiar children. And her." The one who appeared to be the leader spoke, and as he did, pointed a long black finger at Tess. Instantly, both Miss Peregrine put out her hands to protect the children; at the same time, the doctor did the same to Tess.

"What do you want with her? Who sent you?" The leader of the wights smiled maliciously.

"Why would you think someone sent us? Can we not act from our own conscious?"

"You could, no doubt, but considering this loop was created to keep you lot out specifically, and because you don't look like the sharpest of creatures, I'd assume that you'd need assistance from some higher power to break through." The wight, although clearly offended by the doctor's words, hid behind a grin and answered.

"You are quite clever, doctor. I'll admit, we have had some assistance in your capture, but why would it matter to you?"

"It matters," the doctor answered angrily, "because, whoever was behind this whole scheme has meddled with an important event in time. And that is not forgivable."

"Ah." The wight laughed at the doctor, mocking his serious tone. "You truly think you're the only time lord left in the world? We aren't scared of you. We can meddle with time all we want, as we've got our own time lord on our side."

A mixture of shock, fear, and confusion went through the doctor's head, clustering his brain. It simply wasn't possible, what they were saying. The last other time lord he had met was the master, and he had watched him die in his arms before regeneration could take place. Surely they couldn't be talking about him?

"What other time lord? I'm the only one left. There's no one else." The wight leader ignored him, however, instead turning his comrades.

"Bring her in, guys." The doctor, Tess and the others turned their heads as they heard the clunking of boots bang against the hard wooded floor. A female then materialized before them from around the corner of a room. She had long blonde hair which she wore down, spilling over her green T-shirt. With two hands she held a large black revolver, which she seemed to be aiming at the captured party.

Looking specifically at the doctor, she gave him a grin, and with a hit of smugness, she uttered, "hello, dad." Just then, a sick feeling crept through the doctor's gut. His daughter was working with them. The daughter he held in his arms as she died from a gunshot. Or so he had thought.

"J-Jenny. How is this possible?"

"Jenny? Did she just call you dad? Doctor, you never said you had a daughter?" At the moment, Tess was just as confused as the doctor. However, Jenny seemed to be taking amusement in their confused stupor, as she sported a smug grin on her face before she began to explain how she could possibly be alive—and more importantly, why she was collaborating with the enemy. She strode over to them, clicking the heels of her boots in such a way that she seemed to be almost skipping.

"Oh, well, dad, you would have known just how 'possible' it was that I'm alive, but you didn't care to stick around much after my death now, did you? No. You didn't even care to stay and bury me, just left. So when you did, I became conscious again, and flew off. Not knowing what I was at first, I was frightened. But when my ship crash landed in modern day Florida, I met this strange crowd." Jenny's face suddenly became hard and grave as she continued her story.

"I remember crashing in the forest, the dark and cold engulfing me. Then, as if out of nowhere, I heard an old man scream, followed by the screams of a younger boy. I was frightened out of my wits, but then they found me. They asked me what I was, and I told them that my father had told me I was a time lord. They then took me in, showing me how I could manipulate my powers of time travel. I then realized all the good I could do."

The doctor then interjected. "Good? Jenny, this isn't good, this is evil. You're putting innocent children in danger!"

"If I remember correctly, dear father, sometimes you just can't save everyone. And I think I've saved enough people for now." She then cocked her head back, as if pondering past events. "Let's see, I've saved Joan of Arc, several witches from the Salem witch trials, Mary Stuart, and"—Jenny cut herself off as she peered over at Tess. "Well, well, if it isn't Miss Anastasia Romanov herself. I rescued you not long ago. Sorry I had to drop you in London like that, it must have been frightening."

At these words, Tess was speechless. She had finally met the person who had supposedly saved her from execution, and who had also single handedly ruptured the space time continuum by doing it. "This-this was you?" she asked exasperatedly, feeling slightly dizzy. "Why? Why would you do something like that if you knew it would ruin the whole of time and space?"

Jenny's eyes, once filled with amusement, suddenly turned an icy dark blue. "Well, if you're not going to thank me for saving your life, I could just send you back. But no, I'm too nice for that. But if you must know, it was because they asked me to." She pointed at the wights as she made her statement.

"Well, then it all makes sense now," the doctor said next. "Jenny, these monsters, once they knew what you were and what you could do, used you to take people out of their time periods, hoping that the space time continuum would rupture, which would allow the loop to fade. So they could kill all these innocent children."

"No. You're wrong!" Jenny retorted sharply. "You don't know anything about them. Or me, dad." At this, the doctor looked taken aback. He remembered watching Jenny die as he held her in his arms, feeling ashamed that he had not been able to save her. But now, he felt even worse. It was one thing watching your child die, but quite another finding out they were alive, and involved in such an evil conspiracy.

And it was with a heavy heart that he realized what he would have to do next for the good of humanity. The doctor, hoping not to be detected by the wights or Jenny, leaned in towards Miss Peregrine, as if attempting to whisper into her ear. "Now, I want you to do exactly as I say," he said to her. "Take the children and Tess and run as fast as you can to my TARDIS." At this, however, Miss Peregrine looked puzzled.

"What on Earth are you talking about? Those blasted wights have got every entrance to the house blocked. We'd never all get out alive." However, as she attempted to dissuade him, he pulled out his sonic screwdriver pressing a button near the top of the device. Miss Peregrine watched as the device made a clicking sound and flashed a pale blue light.

"Isn't my sonic lovely," the doctor exclaimed with a smile, "It's also a car alarm!" His demeanor grew more serious, knowing that they didn't have long. "Now, I've parked the TARDIS in the next room. I want you all to get inside and go somewhere safe. Don't worry, I'll be ok. Once I dispose of these creatures, I'll be able to find you." He gave a strong, encouraging smile to the old lady, hoping to boost her spirits. Then, acting as a distraction, he ran up to a few of the wights, bouncing up and down like a madman.

"What are you doing, dad?" Jenny asked with narrowed eyes.

"Oh, nothing, dear. Just exercising my legs. Don't you know that exercise is very important? In fact, I think we should all be able to get some exercise, don't you think?" Before Jenny or any of the wights could have even a second to think about what he had meant, the doctor then screamed "Now!," which then signaled for Miss Peregrine and the others to bolt as fast as they could, dodging flying bullets from the wight's guns.

"Stop them!" shouted the leader of the wights. But the fleeing party was too fast for them, pushing various articles of furnisher over to keep them at bay. Tess was at the back, making sure all the children and Miss Peregrine got to the other room safely so they could board the TARDIS and get out of there. After all, if she had died, would it really be such a bad thing?

After much running, with many of them panting heavily, they finally made it into the room where the TARDIS stood. Feeling relived, they ran into to the spaceship, single filed, as Tess ushered them all in. She counted each child as they ran through the doors of the blue box hurriedly.

"One," she called as Emma passed, "Two," as Jacob passed through behind her. As the rest of the children and Miss Peregrine boarded, Tess called out all their names. Everyone appeared to be present, from Emma, to Jacob, to Hugh, to Fiona, and even Claire. However, as she finished the roll call, Tess had realized there was one name that had not been called out.

"Millard?" She called out into the depths of the TARDIS, which she forgot was so much bigger on the inside than on the outside. All the children looked about, checking to see if Millard was with them. But of course, they could not see him!

"Tess, I think he may have stayed behind," Emma offered with a look of panic spreading across her face. If this was true, then he could be caught and, even worse killed by the wights. They had to act fast. Without a moment to spare, Tess made her decision.

"I'm going to go back out and find Millard and the doctor. Go on without me."


	4. Chapter 4

"Wait, Tess, you can't leave. You may not make it back to us," Miss Peregrine attempted to grab the arm of the young girl as she made her way out of the vicinity of the TARDIS. Tess, however, knew she would blame herself forever if she did not at least try to save Millard and the Doctor.

"Don't worry about me, Miss P, I'll be fine. I'm more worried about Millard and the Doctor." Miss Peregrine acknowledged Tess's desire to save them, as she knew that saving Millard would mean a lot to herself as well. Although Miss Peregrine felt terrible letting her go, she knew she had to go, for she would never forgive herself if anything happened to one of her wards.

With a strong smile of support, Miss Peregrine said to Tess, "Be strong, Grand Duchess. You really were born to be royalty." And with that, she closed the blue doors of the space ship, leaving Tess standing in a darkly lit room, with only a few candles lit to light her way. Within minutes, the TARDIS lit up, blazing blue lights giving off shadows across the dark walls.

Now Tess was utterly alone. She had made her choice. Not that she regretted it, of course. She knew that it wasn't her who was supposed to survive, but the doctor. Hearing the voices of the Wights and Jenny clambering through the air from across the way, Tess took to a nearby rusty old desk that was conveniently positioned in the room, and, as fast as she could, climbed under it. Although the antique desk was covered with large amounts of dust from top to bottom, Tess figured that being under it was a lot better than being discovered by her enemies. Once safely underneath, she heard the footsteps of heals clicking and clanking on wood, which could only be Jenny, accompanied by what seemed to be the struggling footsteps of prisoners.

"Let go of me, you little demons!" It was the doctor. So he was still alive after all. And still complaining, as usual.

"Ha, that's not going to happen. You let the girl and the children escape, and do you know what that means for you?"

"Um, not really, because I didn't 'let her escape,' as you put it. She does have a mind of her own," The Doctor retorted sarcastically. "And as for the children, well, they are indeed a peculiar sort, aren't they? And besides, what do you need Tess now for? You've gotten what you wanted." The doctor looked at them in a confused manner. Jenny then laughed at the ignorance expressed on her father's face.

"Dad," she smirked, "Did you really think we were just after these children? There are a thousand of those monstrous children hidden all over the world in various time loops," she yelled, pointed a shaking finger at Millard, who was tied up next to the Doctor. Although he was invisible, the Wights apparently had some sort of technology that could detect his whereabouts. "If we lose the girl, we cannot get into the other loops to find the other children." Jenny finished.

She had changed a lot since the last time the Doctor had seen her, although he had known her for such a short time anyhow. At their first encounter, Jenny seemed so naïve and bubbly, eager to learn about the new world she had been introduced to. Now, however, as the doctor looked upon her face, he felt as if he saw nothing more than a stranger who desired nothing more than to destroy him.

Just then, Jenny began to occupy herself by rummaging through her left pocket, trying desperately to find what she was searching for. Tess, from under the desk, could see the confused face of the doctor as he watched his daughter. After a few seconds, it appeared that the doctor's daughter had found what she was looking for, and pulled it out of her pocket, causing many faces to look in horror at what she held in her small, nimble hand. Jenny held the small device in her hand, and pointed it right at Millard and the doctor, cocking the silver gun.

"Now, tell me where Tess is, and we'll be on our way. And please don't make this any harder than it has to be, I don't really have too much time to kill you."

"Jenny, why would you do this?" the doctor asked, completely aghast. "You don't need to do this, you're a good person, one with morals and a conscience." The doctor attempted to ease his daughter, knowing that any moment, she could pull that trigger, ending their lives. Funny, he thought to himself, it was the second time that day that he had a gun pointed at him.

Jenny, clearly tired of waiting, held the gun more firmly at her father and Millard, ready to fire. Tess was plastered to the floor in fear, watching the events transpire before her eyes. She knew that any second, the doctor and Millard could take their last breaths. She couldn't let them die for her, not when she was supposed to have died long ago. With courage in her heart, she sucked in one large breath of air, filling her lungs for what she feared would be the last time. Shakily, she pushed herself up from the raggedy desk, and stepped out in view of Jenny and the Wights.

"Don't you dare touch them, Jenny," Tess spoke, appearing to scold Jenny as if she were nothing more than a child. However, Jenny did not seem to care much. Her face lit up in a malicious smile, knowing that she had gotten what she wanted.

"Ah, come here, Grand Duchess, and join your new family," Jenny stretched out her arms to Tess, as if welcoming her into them. Tess, however, did not dare inch any closer to her.

"I'm not going anywhere with you. You're a psychopath. How could you try to kill your own father, as well as innocent children?" Tess asked in horror. However, she assumed she had already known the answer. Jenny would do whatever was necessary to please the monsters who saved her from the woods those many years ago, the Wights. She probably felt that she owned them her life, and would do whatever was asked of her to fulfill that debt.

"You, know, you can say no, if you want, Jenny." Jenny looked at Tess, slightly puzzled.

"I'm not sure what you mean, dear." She put on a fake façade, trying with much effort to real Tess into her trap.

"I know that you are only doing this to please the Wights. You don't really want to hurt innocent people. You feel that this is the only way to repay them for saving you, for being there for you, when nobody else was." It appeared that Tess had struck some sort of cord, as Jenny seemed to be taken aback.

"You don't know the first thing about gratitude, Grand Duchess. One can never be fully clear of debts in life. Therefore, you do their bidding to honor the ones who helped you in a time of great need." It seemed as if all of Jenny's malicious intents had washed away with a few words, words that seemed to unearth the true humility she felt inside. Tess wondered that, if she could keep her talking long enough, that she might be able to convince Jenny to let the doctor and Millard go.

"Maybe not," Tess replied, "but I do know that there's a difference between being thankful for someone's help, and throwing away your reputation for them because they helped you. You're better than this, Jenny. Although I didn't know you before, I can see it. You could use your genetics for good, to save the world. Not for all this." She lifted her hands up around her to show the doctor's daughter just what she had done. Attempted to capture and kill innocent children, and furthermore, attempting to kill he own father. Jenny began to wonder what it was all for. Other than saving her life, what else had the Wights done for her? Although they did make her their leader, she was really nothing more than their puppet; when she pulled too far on the strings, she knew they would pull her back. And they might not be so kind to her then.

For what seemed an eternity, Jenny stood there, frozen as solid as ice, unaware of what she should do next. She knew Tess was right, and there was no way around the truth. The moment Jenny acted against the Wight's favor, she would be obliterated. But there was nowhere else to go, nowhere else to find shelter. Surely her father would not take her in, after all the trouble she had caused here. However, she knew, as one of the last time lords of Gallifrey, that she had to do something good, something kind for humanity. Staring blankly into space, Jenny dropped the silver pistol; its hard metal body making a loud thud as it hit the ground.

Tess looked at her strangely, wondering what her motives could be. However, the last word Tess heard Jenny utter was "run," for after that, she turned and dashed into the vicinity of the Wights, crashing into the lot of them. It all happened in the blink of an eye, but Tess somehow realized what was happening. Jenny was giving herself up to save them.

A new energy overcame Tess at that moment, as she saw Jenny's body being torn apart by the Wights. The monsters ripped and tore at her flesh until there was nothing more of the young girl but torn limbs dripping with blood. Tess knew then that they would have to move quickly if they were going to make it out alive. She ran to the doctor and Millard's aid, unraveling their bodies from the tight ropes that bound them. After a few seconds, however, she seemed to have gotten them free, and ushered for them to follow suit.

"Come on! Hurry, they're getting closer!" Tess panicked, noticing that, as the Wights had finally finished with Jenny's now demolished body, they were now advancing towards the doctor, Millard, and herself. The trio ran as far as their feet would carry them, absent-mindedly dashing into the blinding darkness that enveloped them. It wouldn't be long before the Wights had them in their grasp, as they neared their heels as if they were large animals attempting to bite at them.

It wasn't long before they had made their way outside of the large mansion, hopeful that they would be able to find the TARDIS somewhere close by.

"Accio TARDIS!" Millard yelled out into the dark cool air. At this, both the doctor and Tess gave the invisible boy strange looks, although it was hard to tell exactly where he was standing. However, Millard was able to see the expressions clearly on their faces. "What? It worked for Harry Potter." The doctor, ignoring the invisible boy's attempts, then pulled out his sonic screwdriver, pressing a multitude of buttons that allowed it to glow a blazing blue.

Within moments after the screwdriver lit up, they all heard a loud whooshing sound rumbling through the air, a sound that could only mean one thing. The TARDIS was coming. Their hearts filled with a sense of hope as the blue police box materialized before them in the dark of the cold, bleak night. Next, out the front door of the blue box popped out Emma, Jacob, and Miss Peregrine, a look of both surprise and joy as they ran to embrace Tess, Millard and the doctor.

"We can't believe you made it! We were so worried about you!" Emma squealed, unable to contain her excitement. However, the reunion was cut quite short, as the grim sounds of the Wight's growls could be heard from behind them all.

"Quick, get inside, all of you," Miss Peregrine's face twisted in fright as she laid her eyes upon the gruesome creatures. With much haste, the six of them piled into the TARDIS, the doctor kicking its motor into gear, and they were gone. They had successfully left 1940s Wales. However, it was not the end, for there were still unresolved matters at hand.

Tess, taking note of the look of frustration etched across the doctor's faced, knew what was coming next. She knew she would be leaving soon. And not just the TARDIS.

"Doctor," she spoke in a cautious voice. "Where are we going now?" The doctor turned to face his companion, his eyes looking as if they were near tears.

"I think you know very well were we are going, Miss Romanov." And with that, all her questions were confirmed. He was taking her back to Russia, 1918. The place where she was supposed to have died.

"I'm sorry, Tess, I'm so sorry, but it has to happen, if the space time continuum is to be restored. Not to mention that, if you don't do this, the peculiar children's loop cannot be repaired, and they will die." Tess took in a long, shaky breath. But she wasn't scared. She knew what she had to do to save the world, and in a way, she sort of wanted to help. In all her life, which she now realized, wasn't real, she had never gotten the chance to do something as monumental as this, ever. Now, however, she could.

"Well, let's get this over with then," she then said. The doctor pressed and pulled an array of buttons and levers, and he and his company were swirling through the fragments of time and space. Even though she knew she was going to die, Tess was at least glad that she was able to experience all this.

BANG! The TARDIS suddenly crashed into a dark, grey room caked in dust. Tess opened the door and looked out. Although she couldn't remember exactly where, she knew she had seen this place before, somehow. Putting one foot slowly in front of another as if in a daze, the young girl slowly stepped out of the blue police box, entering what would be known in history as the scene of her death. She turned around, one last time, to see the faces of the doctor, Emma, Jacob, Miss Peregrine, and all the others.

"Good-bye, guys. It's been fun." And with that, she turned to face her death. At that moment, the doctor desperately wished that he could do something, change the course of history, something.

"GAH!" He yelled in frustration. "There must be another way!" It all happened at once. The doctor, in a state of rage, ran after Tess, while attempting to fight off Miss Peregrine's restraints.

"You can't! It cannot happen this way, doctor!"

"But I-I have to! I have to try to save her! I always save them!"

Miss Peregrine then grabbed him fiercely, pulling him to view her grey, old eyes.

"You may be a time lord, but you can't change the course of history. I know it is hard, but we can't save everyone. Believe me, I've tried. But, what I can do is look on to the present, and save the people that I can. That's all we can ever do." And with that, Miss Peregrine ushered him back inside the TARDIS, hearing Russian soldiers sputtering various commands. The doctor hurried in trying to get Miss Peregrine and her refugees out before they were seen, and that was when he heard it—the shot and the blood curding scream—the end of Tess Romanov. The doctor's eyes filled with angry tears as he pushed the lever that would send them home.

Back in 1940s Wales, everything was back to how the children knew it to be—a safe loop, no danger, and no Wights. The doctor watched on as the children ran around their backyard playing cricket, no threat of any monstrous creatures to worry their little heads about. Despite his disposition, he smiled. At least he was able to save someone.

"So, you'll be on your way soon, I presume?" It was Miss Peregrine. The old lady had had her share of adventures for today and for a life time, and found that it would be best if the doctor were on his way. The doctored nodded in agreement.

"I believe so, as my work is done here." He began to saunter off back to his TARDIS without another syllable, when Miss Peregrine put her hand on his shoulder, turning him around to face her.

"I'm sorry about Tess, doctor. But if it makes any difference at all, you did save quite a few precious lives today." She looked off into the distance at the children playing, wondering what could have become of their young lives without the doctor.

"You're welcome, Miss Peregrine," he retorted. "Just don't forget that Tess helped save them. It wasn't all me." She smiled at him then, as if to say silently that she would not forget. The doctor then waved his hand into the air, saying good-bye to all the children and Miss Peregrine, before he set off in his blue box once again, wondering what glorious and terrifying adventures he would get himself mixed up in this time.


End file.
